


The Poem - Unity

by StoriesSheWrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Feel-good, Good Slytherins, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Inter-House Rivalries, Hogwarts Inter-House Unity, Poetry, all the characters listed are only mentioned, i literally love hufflepuffs so much, slytherin traits are good, slytherins got treated badly, textbook format, there's finally peace for the houses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-04 01:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13353561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesSheWrites/pseuds/StoriesSheWrites
Summary: On the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, a new edition of Hogwarts: A History is released including a new chapter on house unity,After centuries of schisms and divisions, how did Hogwarts become united once more? Read on to get a glimpse of what caused students to settle their differences.





	The Poem - Unity

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I hope this isn't weird but it's written as a history textbook would be. It's been written for quite a while now and I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> *warning: quite a cringy poem at the start*

**Hogwarts: A History**

**Updated 2048 Edition: 50th Commemoration of the Battle of Hogwarts**

**Chapter 14: Unity at Hogwarts**

 

* * *

 

You might think you’re not wanted

But please believe me when I say

That all of you are needed

In many different ways.

 

The world needs your cunning,

And your bold-faced determination.

It needs your dangerous loyalty

And even your stealthy means of persuasion.

 

Your fiery ambition

Lights flames in the hearts

Of all those you touch.

The four houses are needed in equal parts.

 

So we should stand hand-in-hand,

Red, blue, yellow and green

Because if we do, the power we’ll wield,

Will be like nothing ever been.

 

 

Titled “Slytherin” this anonymous work has since become known as ‘The Poem’. It was found ‘sellotaped’* (a Muggle way of sticking things together) onto the walls leading to the Slytherin common room on 30th October 2020 by caretaker Mr. Argus Filch. It was said to give off an aroma strongly similar to the food the kitchen was preparing for the Halloween feast. No-one ever admitted to penning it and the version that was found by Mr. Filch is currently on display in the Hogwarts Library.

While The Poem is not, it’s fair to say, a complicated masterpiece, the Minister of Magic of the time, Hermione Granger, argued that it was instrumental in bringing the peaceful unity that now resides in Hogwarts.

The public was, at first ignorant of the poem, with the importance of it seeming minor. However, it became apparent to many professors at Hogwarts that less bullying - and less self-exclusion on Slytherin House's part - was occurring. Such a transformation had occurred that an official report was carried out by the Department of Magical Education and Employment December 2021. It's findings were never published.

 

Source A: “It was ingenious, to us. It made us look up from our bubble and realise that we weren’t hated by all. In its simplicity, it changed the atmosphere in Hogwarts and many opinions about Slytherin […] We, at last, felt welcomed.”

       - Part of a letter from a Slytherin sixth form student to M.O.M. Hermione Granger, 29th June 2022

Source B: “Pathetically simple. I’ve ate Bertie Bott’s Beans that were more enticing than this.”

       - Journalist Rita Skeeter, _Witch Weekly_ , August 2020

Source C: “The Poem, as it’s now referred to within Hogwarts, had an enticing effect on Slytherin students. They opened up; opened up their inner circles to the rest of the student body and almost immediately the change of atmosphere could be felt.”

       - _Why and How: An Analysis of Slytherin_ by W.B. Chang

 

W.B. Chang, in his book _Why and How: An Analysis of Slytherin_ (Source C) theorized that it was most likely a Hufflepuff who wrote the poem. Indeed, it is a plausible theory, due to the kindness and consideration of the action, and the “evidence” that it was written in close proximity to the kitchen.

However, in reality we can know neither who wrote The Poem, nor what house they were in. Many have posed hypotheses of the writer being from Gryffindor, or, more strongly, from Ravenclaw. Many have even argued that the author was from Slytherin.

It would be untrue to claim that the reaction to The Poem was universally positive. Although the majority of students accepted the new, more peaceful, ambience amongst students, many rejected it. Even, when it became apparent to the wider public that The Poem had had such an impact on Hogwarts, citizens complained.

 

Source 1: "Hang on, hang on! One moment we're calling all Slytherins evil and condemning them for the war, and the next we're welcoming terrorists with open arms? I fought in the Battle of Hogwarts and saw friends die at the hands of Slytherins. To steal a muggle phrase: this is 'political correctness' gone mad! Why don't they just get rid of that house once and for all?"

       - An excerpt from the opinion column of John Davies, published in _The Magical Mail_ , on 19th August, 2020

Source 2: "Slytherins excluded themselves. Maybe they're not responsible for what Voldemort did or whatever, but it's their fault no-one talks to them!"

       - A Gryffindor student, debating The Poem with other students in September 2020

 

What cannot be denied, however, is the role The Poem played in uniting Hogwarts to be the way we see it today. It provided the initiation for Slytherins to talk to students of the other three houses. And it convinced students of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor to reject the Slytherin sterotype and try to form friendships with those who had been rejected for so long.

 

 

 

 

* You can read more on the art of sellotaping, including the origin of the action, in Arthur Weasley’s book Muggle Inventions


End file.
